If not Willie, then who?

OK, I hear you. A lot of you don’t want Willie Randolph as the manager. Same old reasons. He’s not vocal enough. Not enough fire. Not sure any of that matters. My gut feeling is it always lies with the players.

These are professionals and shouldn’t need anybody to light a fire under them.

Given that, if Randolph goes, who do you want? And, PLEASE NO BOBBY V. nominations. Been there, done that.

John Delcos enters his third season covering the Mets for The Journal News after eight seasons on the Yankees beat. Prior to coming to New York, John covered the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians.

9 Comments

pvhornet05

I say Wally Backman. Willie seems a little too passive on the bench and during the post games and it just seems the Mets follow his personality when playing. I think if Wally was here he can light a fire under their butts.

Buster Olney brings up a name for a replacement that I havenâ€™t heard before:
An NL talent evaluator came up with an interesting name for the Mets, if they decide to change managers: Jim Fregosi. â€œHe knows all about the bright-light and big-city stuff from his days in Philly and he would know how to handle New York, and he would be good with Jose Reyes,â€ the evaluator said. â€œThe veteran players would really like him. And his teams play hard.â€

Wally backman is a head case. Bobby V. Bridge burnt. Manuel was very good in Chicago. Ken Oberkfell deserve a shot one of these days. Some say Mazzilli got the shaft in Baltimore. Frank Robinson is old school and would demand the respect of the vets (delgado). Gary Carter was a candidate before is a ra ra guy and a fan fav. You want exp. with some success bring in Mike Hardgrove or Shalwalter. Obie or Robinson would be my pick

Heres another idea, Willie is modeled after torre who always had a bad cop what about bringing in a Bowa personality manuel has said he’s nearing retirement. Also Warthen might be ready to take over the staff, the jacket has lasted two admin.

I like the idea of Mazzilli – a former Met who has some MLB experience as a manager, and is around the team as a broadcaster. I think Willie will get this tough stretch the Mets have coming up to show something. The off day on June 9th may be the day Willie gets canned. Can’t wait.

If you want to light a fire under these guys, the logical managerial choice is Roger McDowell. He could also double as pitching coach since many are griping about The Jacket these days too.

Seriously, if they were to change managers (which I can’t see them doing until the season is over, if at all) I would go with someone like Oberkfell assuming he could handle the media and generally gets along with his guys. Or Carter who can certainly handle the media. Both of them have had success managing at the minor league level and played a lot in the NL.

I would stay away from Bobby V as he tended to antagonize many players—either his own or on other teams.